Can You Drink Too Much Water? Facts About Dehyration & Water Intoxication

Can You Drink Too Much Water? Facts About Dehyration & Water Intoxication
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My friend Jaime looked terrible. It wasn’t even 9:00 am yet and we were already sweating bullets from the tropical heat. Our conversations were interrupted by his frequent “quick trots” to the toilet.

Can you bring me another cold beer from the fridge”, he asked. My eyebrows raised as I glanced at our humming hotel room fridge. The situation did not bode well.

What’s wrong with you?” I asked. “You look like something the cat dragged in” I added mercilessly - and I was being polite.

I might have Malaria”, he sluggishly responded. “Maybe Yellow Fever or something.”

After popping off a few more questions we “deduced” that it couldn’t be any of the above. No epidemic disease outbreaks were reported for the area yet. For that matter, we hadn’t even been around long enough for symptoms of any of these to appear. A few minutes later my friend made a “tinkle” more the color of herbal tea than urine. There was a distinctive “fruity” smell too. That nailed it for me. A quick consultation with a local physician and the decision was given that the likely culprit was severe fluids loss. The diarrhea didn’t help matters either.

Do You Have Any of These Symptoms?

Now think for just a moment. Do you frequently have any of these symptoms?

  • Constipation

  • Frequent fatigue

  • Frequent headaches

  • Unexplained pain in your lower back

  • Light-headedness or dizziness

  • Dry lips, dry mouth or flaky skin and scalp

  • Digestive irregularities

  • Minor aches and pains in your joints

Believe it or not, ALL of the above have been clearly and unmistakably linked to dehydration. That’s right - a serious lack of sufficient fluids in the body and its systems. A well-known medical fact: most people are regularly dehydrated. Why? It’s because most of us think that when we’re “thirsty” or feeling “hungry”, we often “quench that thirst” with a cool, refreshing “drink”. Yeah, right. So you’ll reach for a cold soft drink, a (gasp!) beer or perhaps a container of a commercially-bottled “fruit juice” or a “sports drink”. Then some might make a pitcher of lemonade or iced tea. Many others “quench their thirst” with the latest “fad” drink. Then too there are those who take diuretics to stimulate natural or unnatural water weight loss.

Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!

Please continue on to the next page to learn about the different ways our bodies lose water and how drinking too much water can possibly be dangerous (water poisoning or water intoxication).

We Lose Water in Many Different Ways

We lose water all the time in many different, natural ways. Sweat is the body cooling us off and eliminating some types of wastes. You don’t have to sweat profusely either. Then there’s normal urination, sputum, bowel movements, and even drinking water for weight loss; all of these contribute to fluid loss and water weight loss from the body. The bottom line is you may well not be getting enough replacement water to cover your body’s needs. So what about the adage, ”You need to drink eight to ten glasses of water a day?” Scientifically, it’s unsupported. What you should do is drink water regularly all during the day to avoid the extremes of <strong>hyperhydration</strong> <strong>or water poisoning</strong>.

Tip: You really only need to drink a half a glass or so of water about every hour to truly energize and refresh yourself, as many have found. Honest, it really works for me!

Is Too Much Water Dangerous for You?

Remember that radio contest sponsored by Nintendo Wii some time ago called “<strong>Hold your wee for a Wii</strong>”? Contestants were supposed to drink as much water as they could, then hold it as long as possible with the “winner” being the person who “held it the longest”. The result: a contestant died from “water intoxication”. Another danger of drinking large volumes of water is developing an imbalance of electrolytes. Babies sometimes suffer from electrolyte imbalance when they get diarrhea or bouts of sustained vomiting or excessive urination. The answer is often to feed them doses of electrolytes to re-balance their systems. The more water you input into your system, for whatever reasons, the more you’ll need to be aware of replacing your “lost” electrolytes. Fortunately, this is quite simple (and cheap) despite what the sports drink commercials may say.

Do you know what a bottle of one of those “sports drinks” costs? Egads! I couldn’t believe it! At those prices a mermaid had better pop out of the bottle and …, well, never mind. But it’s no wonder they won’t give you the less expensive formula for replenishing electrolytes in your body. Anyway though, do YOU want the formula? (Yeah, yeah, I know, of course you do)

Okay, well here it is:

Add just a pinch or two of natural sea salt to a gallon of pure, filtered drinking water and BAM! You’ve got your “finished, electrolytes replacement drink”! (Hey, can I get sued for letting “the secret” out? Oh well, too late now, it’s done!)

Drinking Water for Weight Loss

By all means avoid dehydration by drinking water all during the day. When sweating excessively due to heavy work, exercise, participation in sports or being in a hot climate, replace your fluids with a view to maintaining proper electrolyte balance and be especially wary when drinking water for weight loss or using other methods for water weight loss. For medical questions, health conditions or problems of any type, be sure to consult a qualified physician. Follow these guidelines and then, drinking water will definitely NOT be dangerous for you.